Hey everyone! I'm new here and hoping to get some advice. I would love to try fully raw food! However, I live in Canada and such a lifestyle is pretyy expensive (I hope to oneday build a greenhouse when I own my own home).
So, in the meantime, I was thinking raw til 4! I look at Freelees results and I'm just in awe, and have also really struggled with other diets.
My only concern is the smoothies. I've heard of studies that say smoothies are actually not very good for you, and that eating the foods in whole food form is most ideal... But when I try to cram in as many calories without the aid of smoothies I find it very challenging...
Hoping to get advice :)
Replies
Hey there!
I'm also living in Canada and I totally get where you are coming from. I largely drink smoothies first thing in the morning and mono meal seasonally available raw fruit in the afternoon (Bananas, dates, Apples, oranges). I get my frozen fruit from Costco because they sell in larger quantities and I don't *yet* have a deep freezer to buy local organic fruit on summer to freeze and store year round. That being said, I plan to have a deep freezer by the summertime so I can move towards more local fruit.
Otherwise, raw veg like carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers are often easy to find and bring with me to munch on through the day for my midday meal. I'm always most successful on days where I drink a large smoothie before I leave the house for the day. Usually sipping on it for 30-50 minutes because of the size of it (approx 36-48 oz).
I also bulk buy bananas throughout the winter, let them brown up a bit (once they are brown speckled the sugars are more developed and more nutritionally bioavailable) peel them and freeze them and add them to my smoothies. I freeze them mainly for storage reasons since I go through so many each week, it just saves me multiple trips out.
What part of the country are you from? I'm in the Okanagan Valley so summer is kind to me for raw vegan options but I have to transition a bit to more RT4 and cooked Carbs in winter to make it through affordably.
Thee Weed Diet: Raw and cooked versions ftw. But nobody here has ever heard of this? What the health? All whole foods SOS Free diet, but you are doing that already? but then RT4 as your go to option? Because you are in Canada no less? Hmm, here it is Thee Weed Diet: Raw and cooked versions in Canada. Just what is all this stuff about, "hard to go and stay raw" in the great white north, eh? In Hamilton Ontario, we are a hoser so half the stores are no longer serving my kind. Still raw though, in fact it is not hard when you add in the proper amount of water rich greens and water rich fruits. Smoothies are allowed as a whole food as long as you put in the blender whole.
A vegan M.D. I follow has worked with hundreds of people first hand for ten plus years and puts them all on smoothies because it is easier to get in more calories and more nutrients that way. And she addresses the idea of smoothies not being as good as whole foods and she has found no evidence this is true. Dr. Brooke Goldner.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrookeGoldnerMD/search?query=whole%20food...
I don't neccesarily agree with her opinion about "fruit does nothing for you" / "[fruit is] just the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down". That being said, it's great to see someone addressing the myth that smoothies aren't as good as whole foods.
Yes agreed on both accounts...what she says elswhere is that when her clients eat more than 25% of thier diet from fruit, (I assume that mean calories but not sure), the healing results go significantly down. I think if you have nothing to heal from then fruit as your main calorie source would be fine with her. I know she has some raw food clients.
I reccon whole foods number 1. If you can't get enough calories then use smoothies...drink straight away. I hear people saying they make their smoothie then drink it hours later at work and I would never do that cos I'd be thinking about the oxidation and nutrient damage. I'd rather take the bananas and dates and eat them whole throughout the day. I'm sure you can build up to being used to eating more whole foods...might just take a little time :)
I'm still pretty new but since I work a desk job, I keep my smoothies in large hydroflasks and I just don't open them until it's time for lunch/break 😊 Double walled, vacuum insulated bottles prevent rapid oxidation
Wow, vacuum sealed? That's wonderful! You go girl! Any tips on where or what to buy for this? Thanks!
Ooo just kidding Kleen Canteen has its own website https://www.kleankanteen.com
Hydroflask, Kleen Canteen can both be found online, I believe Kleen Canteen is Target only but don't be scared of trying buy it second hand